MCU Good Parts

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Current rank: 24 of 33

Before rewatch:

• Scenes I love: All the stuff with MJ.  Betty and Ned.

• Expectations: I’ve never rewatched this movie for two reasons: Not a fan of Mysterio here, and the plot all hinges on Peter being stupid and gullible.  We’ll see if that makes it as not-fun as I remember.

Rewatch stats:

• Time to process: 1:35:00 

• Length of cut scenes: 10:40

• Length of iffy scenes: 2:48

• Length of total movie: 2:08:56

• % with cut scenes: 92%

• % with iffy scenes: 90%

• Hero scenes kept: 100%

• Villain scenes kept: 92%

• Action scenes kept: 100%

• Time of scenes I love: 31:30

After rewatch: So.  I rewatched a ton of this because Tom Holland and the rest of the school gang are so freaking fun.  And none of the Mysterio stuff is really cuttable because it’s so necessary to the story.  So.  Not way better than I remember, but the percentage of good stuff is way higher than I recall.  So this jumps up to 14(!).  

Black Widow

Current rank: 23 of 33

Before rewatch:

• Scenes I love: Anything with Yelena.  Florence Pugh totally wins this movie.  

• Expectations: Other than that, I don’t remember this as a stand out movie.  I expect it to stay where it is.

Rewatch stats:

• Time to process: 1:10:00 

• Length of cut scenes: 23:12

• Length of iffy scenes: 2:44

• Length of total movie: 2:13:35

• % with cut scenes: 83%

• % with iffy scenes: 81%

• Hero scenes kept: 94%

• Villain scenes kept: 100%

• Action scenes kept: 92%

• Time of scenes I love: 6:30

After rewatch: It may not be stand out, but it’s a really solid movie.  The family theme, dysfunctional as the four characters are, is really well executed upon.  The action scenes are better than a lot of the standard Marvel fare.  Scarlett Johansson, while overshadowed by Pugh, does an amazing job portraying Natasha’s emotions.  There’s even some genuine menace to Ray WInstone’s Dreykov.  There some definite standings re-consideration for me with this one.

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Avengers: Age of Ultron

6. Ant-Man/Wasp

7. Avengers

8. Spider-Man: Homecoming

9. Captain America

10. Spider-Man: Far From Home

11. Iron Man 2

12. Black Widow

13. Black Panther

14. Iron Man

15. Ant-Man

16. Dr Strange

17. Iron Man 3

18. Thor 3

19. Captain Marvel

20. Thor

21. Thor 2

22. Guardians of the Galaxy

23. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

24. Hulk

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-Man: Far From Home

I got to watch this a couple of days before opening day, thanks to some friends of mine.  Woots!  

As with Homecoming, I loved all the high school stuff.  The opening scene with the student-run newscast returns hilariously with Betty Brant, looking at the wrong camera, low production values, and one of the best uses of I Will Always Love You.  The movie dispenses with the fallout of the Snappening (now called The Blip in the MCU) in a quick five minutes, focusing on the humor and glossing over the insane repercussions that would really ensue if you put any kind of thought into it.  

Aside: As horrible as the idea of half the world’s population disappearing is, it may be just a nightmarish to consider all of them returning after five years.  So many legal issues with everyone having been pronounced dead. Previously widowed spouses would have moved on with their lives. Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding out that your wife had been remarried for the last four years to someone else.  Where are these people going to live? Have their old homes been resold/rented? How would the world’s infrastructure deal with an overnight load doubling?  

And seeing how everyone popped back where they disappeared, what about the people who disappeared in cars or planes?  Did they poof back midair with no plane around them? How many people died immediately upon returning? It’d be a total clusterfuck.  

Back to high school.  The kids are amazing. Ned and Betty are a couple of old souls.  Flash is hilarious as the harmless bully, and his moment of pathos at the end is effective despite its laziness.  

And then there’s Zendaya as MJ.  I can’t express how much I love her portrayal.  It’s very similar to Aubrey Plaza’s April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation - A young woman with a sarcastic, dark wit who hides the sweetest interior imaginable.  Her confidence and razor sharp wisecracks are so strong that they make her moments of vulnerability that much more powerful.  

Loves the Black Dahlia Murders and Spider-Man.

Loves Satan and Starlord.

Her scenes with Peter crackle with chemistry and likability, I would have watched a whole movie of that.  Now that the characters are all firmly established, I wish that Marvel would lean waaaay more into the teen rom-com side of this, with only ancillary action.  Something along the lines of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.  

Looking forward to this reread.

Which is really the problem with Far From Home.  It has the standard MCU not-very-exciting-fight-scenes issue.  I like Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, and he does some neat stuff with his tech, but when I watch this movie again, I’m more than likely to skip the fire elemental fight and the final action set piece.  

I also HATE what happens in the post-credits scene - Why can’t anyone let Peter be happy for just a little bit?  Let him have fun being MJ’s boyfriend! I get why it’s necessary for plot purposes, and such is Peter’s lot in life.  But it’s just so damn unfair.

Final point: Captain America saying “Avengers assemble,” will always be my favorite MCU moment ever.  Ever. But coming somewhere in the top 5 has to be the joy I felt when JK Simmons showed up on screen.  The majority of MCU casting has been flawless over the last decade, but thank god they knew not to mess with perfection from the Sam Raimi trilogy.  Perfection.  

Best moment.

A close second?

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Will buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Updated MCU rankings:

1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Captain America: Civil War
3. Captain America: Winter Soldier
4. Avengers
5. Ant Man/Wasp
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming
7. Black Panther
8. Avengers: Infinity War
9. Spider-Man: Far From Home
10. Captain America: First Avenger
11. Thor 3
12. Avengers: Age of Ultron
13. Captain Marvel
14. Ant-Man
15. Iron Man 1
16. Iron Man 3
17. Iron Man 2
18. Guardians 1
19. Doctor Strange
20. Guardians 2
21. Thor
22. Hulk
23. Thor 2